THE BAYAZL 



397 



Ibaziyyeh derive their name from Abdullah bin 

 Yahya bin Abaz (in our dictionaries 'Ibaz'). 

 Some authors have corrupted this name to Bey- 

 dan, that of a Persian sectarian ; others translate 

 it the 'Whites/ as opposed to the green of the 

 Patiniites, and the black of the Abbasides. This 

 arch-heretic, according to the Jehan-Xuma, began 

 to preach under the reign of El Merwan, the last 

 Ommiade Khalifeh, between a.h. 127 — 132 (a.d. 

 744 and 749), and was shortly afterwards con- 

 quered and put to death. His tenets spread far 

 and wide amongst the Khawarij of ISezwah, ex- 

 tended to the littoral, and filled the land with 

 battle and murder. 



The Bayazi, who through their Imams go- 

 verned Oman for 163 years, beginning from 

 a.d. 751, are thus one of the many Khariji (in 

 the plural Khawarij) sects whose origin may be 

 traced in the rival faiths of Sabeism and Kuraysh 

 idolatry ; in the contest of the ' Prophets ' Moham- 

 med and Musaylimeh, and in the political inter- 

 ference of the first Caliphs between the turbulent 

 tribes of Oman. Under the names of Shurah 

 Haruriyah (<oJ^)> an( * Muhakkimah 

 (<uLs-*), these 'Seceders' were once numerous 

 in northern Africa, Spain, and Arabia; in a.d. 

 1350 Ibn Batuta found them at Timbucktu. 



